Godzilla - Final Wars

GODZILLA FINAL WARS may not please Godzilla purists but it delivers the goods for everybody else, -at least those with some knowledge of Godzilla lore. I saw it with a packed house of G fans at Subway Cinema's annual New York Asian Film Festival and it was the perfect audience for a film as steeped in the kaiju mythos as this one. Every time a new monster appeared on screen the crowd applauded or, rather, they applauded once that monster became recognizable, since the director often teases us with quick cuts and blurry motion before giving us a good, steady full-body shot. There are 15 monsters in all, many friendly old faces and some obscure ones, but all recognizable to longtime Godzilla fans.

The other real pleasure for G fans is the star-studded cast. Three venerable stars of older kaiju films turn up, two in major roles. Akira Takarada (star of the original GODZILLA, 1954) plays the UN Secretary General and Kumi Mizuno (the gorgeous leading lady from MONSTER ZERO, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and more) plays the Commander of the Earth Defense Force. In a smaller role, Kenji Sahara turns up in a lab coat assisting the attractive young female biologist (Rei Kikukawa) assigned to investigate the monster attacks. Also on hand are Jun Kunimura (Boss Tanaka in KILL BILL VOL. 1); Kane Kosugi, a martial arts star in his own right and son of "ninja" star Sho Kosugi; and one other gorgeous actress, Maki Mizuno, who plays the biologist's newscaster sister. Masahiro Matsuoka plays Ozaki, the lead mutant hero who uses MATRIX-style martial arts to fight the alien invaders. Don Frye plays the tough American captain who pilots the Gotengo (the flying, burrowing ship from ATRAGON) and stands up to the aliens in several memorable confrontations. A martial artist/wrestler/extreme fighter known primarily in Japan, Frye speaks all his lines in English in the Japanese print I saw, while everyone else speaks Japanese to him.

The film's all-star monster cast and alien invasion plot seem derived chiefly from DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968), but with everything pumped up to hyper speed. The film is incredibly fast-paced and filled with action, either in the form of battles between monsters or martial arts fights/ray-gun shootouts between the human and mutant defenders and the alien invaders. Since the monsters attack numerous cities around the world (including New York, Paris, Shanghai, Tokyo--of course--and even Vancouver!) there turns out to be more mass destruction in this film than in all other G films combined.

One can argue that the whole production is sheer lunacy, but it's lunacy done with conviction and affection. The director clearly knows and loves Godzilla films and he conveys that love while also adding new twists and imaginative touches (e.g. Anguirus, the spike-covered ankylosaurus, curling up into a spiked ball to launch a rolling attack). One's overall reaction depends on any number of factors, but this should definitely be seen by all kaiju fans.

I think there is a tendency with hardcore Kaiju fans to forget that these movies should not be taken so seriously. They are never executed to perfection. There are always plot holes. There is always some sub-par acting. Some of the special effects always look a little weak. Get over it.

I also attended the world premier of Final Wars, and I would say this has to be the most exciting of them all. It takes a very similar sci-fi angle to Godzilla vs. Monster Zero and adds a dash of Matrix stylization while constantly bombarding you with fantastic Kaiju fight scenes.

I am not sure that "Final Wars" will see the same shelf-life as some of the older classic Godzilla flicks due to the fact that it is so action-oriented. This film is definitely not going to get the camp appreciation that so many older films do. However, if you are a Godzilla fan and want to see some absolutely fantastic battles along side an entertaining sci-fi plot, you will really enjoy this film.

I attended the world premiere of GODZILLA: FINAL WARS in Hollywood tonight, and I must say the experience was incredibly exciting. The film itself, however, was indeed a "mixed bag" of greatness and mediocrity, and I left Grauman's Chinese Theater a bit conflicted.

I found the film's much anticipated title sequence to be too rushed and erratic, much like the film itself. The titles were not easy to read as they literally flashed on and off of the screen on top of distracting clips from classic Godzilla films.

The film's script was as confusing and scattered. The film started with a good, deliberate pace but quickly degenerated into an orgy of images and scenes spliced together in such quick succession, as one person I talked to put it, it was like you were channel surfing between several sci-fi and kaiju films playing at the same time.

The special effects were at times spectacular and beautiful...at other times they looked as if they had been executed in a rather hasty fashion. Some notable effects sequences: the Earth Defense Force's battle with Ebirah, Rodan's attack on New York, Godzilla's battle with Kumonga in New Guinea. Deserving special recognition is Zilla's daytime attack and night time fight with Godzilla in Sydney, Australia. Zilla's CGI was very well executed. There were a handful of effects shots that were not totally bad, but could have used some fine tuning. Manda attacking Atragon could have used some more work, for example.

Keith Emerson's electronic and pulsating music must be the most unique ever heard in a Godzilla film, but well done and intriguing.

As mentioned earlier, the pace of the film is so fast and erratic, it is hard to keep up with. Without giving away specifics, this must be one of the most out-of-control, if not THE most out-of-control script in the series.

It will take me a few days to figure out my true feelings about this film, but I imagine, with its high points and its flaws, this will be one of the most controversial films in the series among fans.

First, before my review, I have address two points of contention about this film. For starters, the hero (Ozaki), besides having short black hair, black clothes and martial arts skills, no more resembles Keanu Reeves, than a brick resembles a prime-mover. His clothes may have similar pigmentation to the Matrix's Neo but in this film Ozaki is actually wearing white plastic body armour, and his military coat is dark green. Both he and Neo might share martial-arts knowledge. At least Ozaki is from the country that invented a large portion of it! Besides, I thought he looked MUCH more like Noah Wyle. If his coat had been white, perhaps people would say the film was ripping off ER.

The second issue is about the 'Matrix style'. Since even the creators of those films admit that their style harvests greatly from manga, anime, and HK action movies, it would be fair to say that Final War's director, Ryuhei Kitamura is more influenced by his own culture than three blockbuster popcorn flicks. Stopping bullets with telepathy, psychic battles, gravity defying fights, and slow motion have been enjoyed in Japan and mainland Asia for a VERY long time. Unfortunately, many aspects of their fiction have been somewhat hijacked by Hollywood.

The director shows many influences in this film, and it would foolish to deny that the Matrix did not play a part in shaping his approach. However, many film goers are simply unaware of the depth of The Matrix's own influences, and shouldn't attribute too much to them. Anyway, on to the review.

Well, if you are seriously wanting to get anything out of this film, you should probably become a fan of Godzilla and Kaiju genre. Anyone else would probably mistake this film's style, steeped in Kaiju tradition, for faults. It is true that the special effects are mostly 'analogue', and that the monsters are NOT CGI (usually). Yes, they are men in suits wrestling in model cities, but is it a flaw? Heck no! This film is great entertainment, and even a little touching!

The story is simple: a new force threatens the earth and sends monsters to destroy cities and crush humanity. What else? Luckily, the defenders of earth, a collection of mutants themselves, strive to combat the threat and restore peace. Godzilla herself may just be the only weapon left to mankind that could save the human race.

And so stylistically this film is very SF. The human forces wear futuristic body armour and sport hightech weapons. There are flying battleships and alien spacecraft. This may be an angle that some fans don't agree with but atleasy the monsters are all here. I forget how many, but quite a few from the Godzilla bestiary return to wreak havoc, and there are some fantastic clashes between them.

However, Final Wars is as much a human story as it is one of mass destruction at the hands of giants. Yes, that was a little difficult to say. But there is quite a lot of focus placed on the human protagonists this time. They are fighting a new and mysterious new foe. Many of the action sequences, and in fact often the longest ones, involve humans in hand-to-hand.

Even if this raises the hackles of a few Kaiju fans, I can understand: bring on the rubber-suited titans and all that. Yet I think that this dual focus adds an engaging dramatic quotient to the film. The action sequences may also draw a few comparisons to a certain fizzled out sci-fi trilogy, and all I can I say to that, is written above. And the words "get", "over" and "it".

The acting skill of the players varies between that of a seasoned performer to that of a pro-wrestler grapling with his lines. Oh wait, I think he is a pro-wrestler. I feel though, that if viewers are looking at acting skill in a film like this, they missing out on the bigger picture. Rest assured however, that this is definitely not like Devilman, where store-front manikins could have acted better.

Reportably, Final Wars is an anniversary film, and it is, though doubtfully, the last in the Godzilla series. For that reason, regardless if it remains that way, I was very happy to see the film stay true to the heritage it is a part of. It provides a fitting farewell. There is something refreshing, watching rubber-suited actors trample miniature sets - actors pretending to be monsters, waving their claws about. Sure the such things are cheesy and yes the rest is overly stylised, but the film makes no excuses for that, and it shouldn't.

Bring it on!

If this is the last Godzilla as said, then I can say the series had a good run and ended on a high note. Perhaps not the highest note possible, this is a very flawed film. However, it is the second best in the Millennium series (next to Megaguiras).

If you read my Godzilla, Mothra, Mechagodzilla review, than you can easily see why i say so. Many of this series have had this annoying habit of having about thirty minutes of plot, then an hour of monster combat. This one gives equal time to storyline and action sequences.

No matter how short, the monster battles are always entertaining, the high point being a fight between Mothra and Gigan. This battle is relatively quick but still very entertaining. Gigan is one of the most powerful foes in the movie, and it was good to see Mothra getting to fight the second most important monster.

Monster X looked like something that would be creepy if it was human size, or maybe a little taller, and crept around in the shadows of a space station. However it didn't matter when he was easily the most powerful monster in the film (or, at least could transform into it).

The human battles were all done very well, accept for an annoying motorcycle chase which had the dumbest use of Matrix style special effects I have ever seen. However, many disappointed fans exaggerate the Matrix influence. It is clearly there in the action scenes, don't get me wrong, but other than the one I mentioned they are well crafted fight scenes.

I rather not talk about the film's flaws, after all, when they are flaws you find in any action film, what are you going to get from going over them. And that in itself is a flaw: This is an action film. Don't expect a monster movie, it is an action film that happens to have a lot of the action being done by monsters.

With an ending that could bring a tear to one's eye. So the Godzilla series (presumably) ends on a good note, much better than Godzilla vs. Destroyah (Terror of Mechagodzilla was not an ending in my opinion). This is a film to be enjoyed, and should have a place in your collection. Its the movie that every now and then you might just want to pop in the DVD player, just because.

***/**** stars